What is the harm in inflating a tire higher then recommended?

Question

I have a Honda Civic Hybrid, many sites recommend inflating the tires to the max inflation instead of the recommended inflation in order to get significant fuel savings. The recommended pressure is 32, the sidewall max is 44, I am thinking of running them at 38. What are the downsides of running them at 38 or higher?

Answer 1

if it blows it can kill you

Answer 2

The only downside that I can think of is, as it is cold, the air in the  tires compresses and is lower than when it is hot outside.  When it gets warmer, the air in the tires will expand, causing over inflation.  As your tires get warn, it can result in a blowout.  

You should check your tires regularly for air pressure to see if they are too far under/too far over inflated.

Answer 3

Over-inflated tires will wear out the center tread bands faster than the outside bands,  and they are also harder riding.

Answer 4

the in bult cotton strings get strached more-- like dameges are make the tyer ,side wall bulging-- the cooked rubber or synthetic materials are heled in position by this strings

Answer 5

Okay by having too much air pressure you risk many things, one; your tires would wear in the center, two; you would have a very hard handling vehicle, three; your tires actually help dissipate the heat from your brakes. When you put on the brakes the heat from the pads and rotor, (or drum) has to go somewhere,and this somewhere is your tires. if your tires are worn they will not disperse the heat and then you could warp you rotor damage your tires, and cause premature wear on steering components, which could be very harmful to you as you are driving and possibly lose control.

Answer 6

Hi look what u are proposing sounds OK within the limits,over inflation means tire wear more in centre of tread.

I would not go any higher tho than 38..Cheers ♥

Answer 7

Over inflated tires can increase the tread wear on the center of your tires. No matter how you obtain it, uneven tread wear on your tires will reduce the life of the tires, requiring them to be replaced earlier than they should have needed to be replaced.

Answer 8

If a tire is over inflated you will wear out the center of the tread first, but will get better gas mileage because less of the tire is in contact with the pavement. (less drag)

  If a tire is under inflated you will wear out the outside edges first, but will get better traction because more of the tire is in contact with the pavement. (hard on the side walls)

A properly inflated tire will have the entire width in contact with the pavement with equal pressure, thus providing even wear and an even balance.

Answer 9

The car will handle like a basketball and the center of the tread will wear out, but your gas mileage might go up 1-2 mpg!  the sidewall has the max inflation for max load that the tire can support, which will put the right footprint on the ground at that weight.  the car sticker has the inflation for the weight actually on the wheel and will put the right footprint on ground, best traction, handling, etc.

Answer 10

you should never inflate a tire to its max, but to what it says on the door. Honda tells you to put it like that for a reason. If you inflate it too much, you might find it very hard to control your car in certain situations. Also, the higher the pressure, the less tire touching the ground, so never do this in the snow or rain, but to be safe, Do what honda says, it will give you good fuel, and SAFE driving

Answer 11

hello , i love answering this Q. to any-one , at any-time.

i am a Truck-driver and a traveller , i have found through experience and Trial , that for the Standard passenger car (of ANY type)(any-where in the World)... a good Practise is to only inflate the  steer Tyre/tire to a Max. of 4 lbs/sq.inch  {forget the Metric conversion , do it your-self} over the Recommended Inflation.

what this does is to `round` the tyre/tire out to give a better "surface area " for the Tread to contact the road surface , giving more acceptable grip from the Tread and better cornering and handling whilst Driving and to keep the rubber `cool` ( to prevent pre-mature blow-out) = Positive side

Negative side  =  you tend to "feel" the `bumps in the road" a bit more than usual.

the rear tyre/tire , you can do to about 2 Psi over , as well.

less Resistance from the Rubber  =  better fuel economy and less stress on the Drive-train of you car...!

Over inflation = un-wanted tyre wear

Under inflation = too much heat build-up = blow-outs.

you also need to factor in , how much `weight` do you carry in the car (as standard , every day driving) + distance you travel (as standard) + who drives the car the most , to reach a reasonable compromise for all Drivers OR just tell them it`s your car and to follow your service requirements , with-out argument.....or you`ll ban `em from using it..!

but the above should suit you down-to-the-ground.

Answer 12

well you could blow it up, your putting more stress on it than it was meant to handle, but really the main downer that you would encounter is that your tire will be the wrong shape, so it will wear unevenly, too much pressure the middle wears fast and the outside less, too little the opposite happens. also less surface of your tire will be in contact with the road, that means you have less friction, less traction, less safe and less good for driving fast if that's your thing. i don't see the logic of fuel efficiency. your car is the same weight and it requires the same energy to propel you forward, the same resistance in the engine, there's less area of friction in contact with the road but you will just be putting more energy into a smaller area thus wearing out your tires faster. increasing the acceleration for which your tires will spin. that's why really fast cars have really wide tires, so they don't spin their tires too much because tire spins is wasted energy on not going fast and tire wear.

Answer 13

you risk a higher chance of them popping

Answer 14

as you drive,a tire builds up heat ,caused by friction between the road and the tire-which in turn causes the pressure inside the tire to rise and if your running max pressure already, you are in SERIOUS danger of blowing the tire and causing you to wreck, flip, etc.(definitely not good)

Answer 15

The higher the pressure, the more convex the tread surface will tend to be,,,High tire pressure wears out the center of the tread, low pressure wears out the edges... However, higher pressures tends to flex less, and the contact patch will be smaller, which would result in better MPG... A compromise of 38 sounds like a good idea...